Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Are you in one of those can -do jobs? What I
mean is you can do it, but down deep you don't
really like it. In fact, you might even despise
it. Well, do you quit? You go back to school?
Could it be that you have yet to discover the
job that God has specifically made you to do?
Stay with me and let's find out. What if you
actually looked forward to Monday mornings? What
if work wasn't just the price you pay for weekend
freedom, but a source of deep satisfaction and
purpose? Most people spend 60 to 80 percent of
their waking hours counting down to Friday, trapped
in jobs they don't enjoy. They've swallowed the
lie that we are what we do. On today's edition
of Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram unveils a
liberating truth. You're not what you do. You're
crafted in God's image with unique gifts, passions,
and purpose. And when you discover and fulfill
your divine calling, work transforms from drudgery
into delight. A bit later, Chip will also describe
one of the largest match opportunities in the
history of Living on the Edge so that you can
double the impact of your generous year -end
support. But right now, let's turn our attention
to the subject at hand, leaving a legacy that
lasts forever. Work is a calling, all work is
sacred, and our work is to flow from our unique
purpose. Now, if you're called to be a plumber
or a builder or a software engineer or a stay
-at -home mom, you will tell others about the
love of God by actually how you do your work
and by what you say. The New Testament command
is Colossians 3, 23, whatever you do. Now, let's
see, what do you think that would cover? Is this
just spiritual stuff, quote? Whatever you do,
work at it with all your heart as working for
the Lord, not for men. This is revolutionary.
Now let me give you four kind of specific ways
that are real practical in general to develop
this and those that you love to pass it on. And
then what I want to do is I want to... Take this
very specifically in the second half of our time
about how do you help those you love discover
God's calling for their life. But before we do,
let me give you four quick things that especially
for those of you that might have kids that are
still at home or you're in those earlier years.
Number one, give them a lot of jobs growing up.
Your kids need to learn to cook. and help out
at 11 and 12. Everyone needs to be able to handle
and do their own laundry, you know, by the early
teen or preteen years. You want them to learn
to work at an early age. Second, feed them responsibility,
responsibility, responsibility. Give them jobs,
feed them responsibility. Number three, demand
excellence and develop a work ethic. We have
just got into this, our little kid's psyche.
We don't want them to feel bad. My kids will
tell you, and maybe I was a little over the top,
I had one son that had a struggle in school and
he had the gift of sloppiness. And so he would
do his homework and he would, I mean, I couldn't
even read it. He said, well, dad, it's the best
I can do. I said, well, the best you can do,
I guess, is not quite good enough because that's,
and I would give him, you know, the little dad
sermon and I really love you, son. Now do it
again. And that's how you learn to clean out
the garage. That's not bad. Now try it again.
You know, the reason the vacuum cleaner, you
pick up the rug and you actually vacuum under
the rug, okay? Now, I'm not talking about being
perfectionistic, over -the -top, wacko. Although
my kids at times would say I had small moments
of that. It was, if they don't learn to work
well and work with excellence and work to an
audience of one, where do you think they're going
to pick that up? One of the greatest gifts I
think I saw my wife and I give our children is
they know how to think and they know how to work.
And the final thing I would say is teach them,
and I allude to this, to work for an audience
of one. And when they're young, like I told them,
I said, I understand no one can see behind here
that's really dirty and all the cobwebs and the
spiders that are coming out of the corner and
stuff that's upsetting your mother. But the reason
you clean here It's because we're not doing this
for me or for your mom. You do your best because
this is your work as an offering to God. Did
you see it? This was really one of the core Reformation
principles. The priesthood of the believer was
one. This other was living life before the face
of God. All that we do, all that we are as an
offering. And so those are four little things.
Jobs, responsibility, excellence, audience of
one. Now, let's get real practical. Help them
discover God's calling for their life. And to
do this, you need to ask the following questions.
And by the way, this isn't original. What is
your shape? Actually, there was a pastor, I think,
from Saddleback who wrote a book that has this
word shape. But it was such a good acronym, I
stole it. And so, you know, I don't want any
credit for it, but I think all truth is God's
truth. If you give credit, if people have done
better stuff than you, you just grab it, modify
it, give credit, and use it. So this acronym
of a shape I think is very, very helpful. And
here's your role with your disciples, with the
people that you love, with your kids, with your
grandkids, with the people in your Bible study.
You want to be a student of them. See, your role.
You've got 365 days to live. If you're going
to die 365 days from now, and at the end of that
365 days, let's say they live another 20 or 30
years. Let's just round it. 70 % of their waking
hours, they're going to work. How valuable would
it be if you could help them discover what they
were made by God to do? and spend 70 % of their
waking hours doing what God made them to do with
joy and fruit and impact. And they woke up and
said, thank God it's Monday. Can you imagine
the gift that would be? Not only to them, but
to the kingdom. And my suggestion is you'll have
to become a student. Your role changes. We have
unconsciously bought how do I help the people
I love be successful and how I help them be happy.
That takes you down. Probably very negative paths.
What I can tell you is if you help them discover
who God made them to be and fulfill their calling,
this sort of side thing will happen. They'll
probably be pretty successful and they'll probably
be very happy. But that's a side benefit. That's
not the goal. So what is your shape? So number
one, ask them what are their spiritual gifts?
Help them discover their spiritual gifts. You
know, you have the core passages in the New Testament,
Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, Ephesians
4, and I went over those quickly. But there's
lots of excellent resources to help people discover
their spiritual gifts. So we put together a thing
called Your Divine Design. It's an audio series
and a DVD series that walks people through a
process of discovering their primary spiritual
gift. What did God make them? What is their passion
spiritually? What did he create them to do in
terms of spiritual gifts? My son, Ryan, I'll
give a number of real practical illustrations,
was not a student. I mean, he would have six
weeks where he'd get like A's and B's. And he
was a smart kid, but very lazy. And he doesn't
mind me saying this because it's very true. And
so from sixth grade to twelfth grade, he didn't
put two six weeks together ever. And I mean,
like his joke is, I was grounded. I think from
seventh grade on, you know. It's not really true,
but I mean, he made me nuts. He just wouldn't
do his work. But, so I started, I said, okay,
I'm responsible for his education. Here's a book
by C .S. Lewis. I want you to write me a book
report. And he did. And then here's the major
Bible themes by Chafer and Walvoord. And I mean,
it's like this. And this is during the summer.
You're not going to work at school? That's okay.
I'm going to be responsible. You're going to
learn to read, write, and think. And so you read
a chapter and there's 20 questions at the end.
You have to go into the Bible and answer all
of them. Well, he did. Here's what I learned
about my son. He led four of the six volleyball
players in high school to Christ. He had a Bible
study in our home. When he was supposed to be
studying, he went and learned how to play the
guitar very well. And when he got bored playing
the guitar, he went out and played the drums.
He loved God. He had a passion for God's word
and he hated school. Now, part of the discipline
was I just was on him, on him, on him, on him,
on him. And then when he got done with school,
he said, well, you know, I think I'd like to
go to college. I said, well, I got a stewardship
issue here. Because, you know, we're going to,
you know, I don't have a lot of money, and so
we're going to have to both. pay as much as we
can, but you need to work for a year and save
eight to $10 ,000 because you've never put two,
six weeks together. Why should I put 10 ,000
of God's money down and you go off to college
and blow $10 ,000? So you need to work for a
year and then you pay for your first year. And
if you're consistent and do it well, then I,
by then I think I'll be able to handle the next
three years. I'll pay at least your tuition and
you can work. And he looked at me like, dad said,
yes, son. Now, do you understand? Now, some of
you are looking at me like, you must be the harshest,
meanest, baddest father I've ever heard. Now,
think about this. Again, am I not being consistent?
It's not my money. It's God's money. He's blown
the last. Why would his behavior change because
he goes off to college and has more freedom,
can do more? Well, I will tell you what. He did
a couple jobs that he thought, I don't think
I want to do this the rest of my life. He saved
about $7 ,000 or $8 ,000. I charged him rent
in his bedroom from day one. The goal is to what?
Help them to become responsible. Now, we had
fun. We played hoop. I loved him. We had a great
relationship. But what I saw was his motivation
and spiritual gifts were in this area of teaching
and discipling. And I praise God for Joe Stull,
who was the president of Moody Bible. He and
I were on the phone. I described my son. He said,
I knew a guy just like him once. I said, I'll
tell you what, I'll let him in Moody Bible. I'd
rather have a guy who's not as studious. who
loves God and has a proven track record. And
I said, well, who's this person you know that
was like this? He said, it was me. He said, I
hated high school. He said, I never started studying.
So I started Greek and the Bible and all the
rest. I said, Joe, you got a doctorate. He goes,
man, Chip, it's not about brains. It's about
calling and motivation. We'll hear more from
Chip Ingram's message in just a moment. First,
we're inviting you to multiply your year -end
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and it is so exciting. I mean, all across our
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There's never been a more important time to disciple
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.org. From a series called Leaving a Legacy That
Lasts Forever, again, our Bible teacher, Chip
Ingram. Well, my son ended up at Moody. He graduated
from Moody. He clipped out of courses. He got
through. He loved Greek. He's a pastor, and he's
in a ministry that's God's blessing. But part
of it was, what's his spiritual gift? That's
going to be a big part of what God... When you
come to Christ, God's gonna give a primary, I
believe, motivation and a ministry cluster for
you to fulfill. In other words, if this is your
good work you're to walk in, doesn't it make
sense? He's gonna put something in you, a power,
supernaturally, for you to do it. The second
is, what's their heart? Where's their passion?
Ask them, what's your desire? What do you dream
about? What would you love to see happen? I mean,
that question, if you couldn't fail, what would
you like to do? I mistakenly asked one of my
sons that once. And he says, I want to be a musician.
I thought, oh my gosh. Tell me you're joking,
son. No, dad, I think God's put this music in
my heart. And I'm thinking, there's a zillion
musicians, bands everywhere. You got to get a
real job. There's no security in this. I mean,
you know, I'm preaching on the weekends this,
but now this is my kid who's not going to get
a real job, right? And so he goes to a little
community college. Dad, I'm bored with this.
I want to go full -time in music. And I'm going.
And so I can still tell you where I was. I was
here in the kitchen. The table's here. Jason
was right there. And I'm giving him the logical
parental, well, after you get done with school
and you need to have enough security, and I'm
giving him all this, basically, money. You got
to take care of yourself over here. And the fear
of a dad thinking you'll never be happy because
you're going to end up, you know, a has -been
little musician that's traveled around and wasted
your early years. So I'm, you know, in my flesh,
I'm worried about his happiness and money. And
so he's in the kitchen and I'm giving him the
opposite of what I'm preaching, which is not
good as a pastor or a father. And he looked at
me and goes, hey, dad, who's that guy who said
dream great dreams and follow the passions of
your heart, think outside the box and make a
difference for Jesus? I said, give me a minute.
Let me see if I can remember who that guy was.
And we had this exchange and I had to say, son,
I'm sorry. I give your right. Give me a day to
process it and then just tell me how can I help
you? And it's a long story and he's writing music
and doing what God made him to do. And anybody
here in this room have that struggle with those
you really care about? You know, sort of the
practical versus what God might really want him
to do. A is for aptitude. What are you good at?
The fourth is personality. You need to look at
how your kids are wired. And, you know, whether
that's the aptitude, whether it's the strength
finder test that you can get at any bookstore
and go online in 30 minutes and kind of see what
people's strengths are, or the personality test,
there's lots of them, the MMPI, or sort of the
easiest one is that DISC test, you know, high
D, I. But my point is, it doesn't take long to
give someone that you're discipling or one of
your kids or a grandkids a little test and begin
to talk about, you know, you're high dominant
and high I, you're a leader. like details. But
dad, I want to be a ballerina. Well, I know,
but sort of in a nice way, you're awkward, honey,
and you fall down a lot, you know? And we'll
get you one of those little tutus for Halloween,
and you can run around the neighborhood, you
know, you're only seven. But my point is, you
want to direct them toward what they're good
at. That's how God made them. And then here,
You want to encourage them to get honest, wise
counsel about who they are and where they fit
and how to move. Because you may have an influence
on them, especially if they're children or grandchildren,
but you want them to get wise counsel from people
you really trust and they trust to give some
outside, objective view of where are they at?
Where are they coming from? What are they good
at? How do they come off? You want to just create
these mirrors of objectivity to help this person
understand, What has God made you to do? What
is your Ephesians 2 .10 good work to walk in?
What are you called to do? When you do it, you
come alive and God blesses it and you're fulfilled.
By the way, when you are doing what God made
you to do and when the people that you are helping
are doing what God made them to do, they often
miss it because it doesn't seem like work. You
understand, we all have glasses. If you had glasses
and there was a blue tent so that everything
you saw was blue, you would think everyone sees
blue. I meet people who see a situation and organizing
it, well, that can't be God's call. I mean, it's
so easy to organize stuff. All you do is this,
this, this, this, this, this, this, this goes
over here, this goes over here. I mean, it only
took me five minutes and I'm thinking, how did
you do that? Or I watched my son at nine years
old read the Bible and ask questions about it
and teach his friends at nine. I'm thinking,
And he thinks everyone does that. Or I've seen
people who, you know, look at something technical
and they click, click, click, click, click, click
here. This is over here. Well, this thing here,
these are cookies over here. I don't know what
cookies are. And, you know, I mean, you could
give me that computer. Until Jesus comes, I,
you know, send, you know. And so what you have
to help people is that when they seem like it's
not work because it comes so, easy. Now you have
to develop the gift and you have to cultivate
it. But often that's their sweet spot. That's
what they're great at. I remember when I first
started teaching, I thought, well, no one can
do this for a living. I mean, you get to study,
you get up in front of people, then you get to
apply it, you get to see what happens. I mean,
is this for real? Like this is a real job? Now
I spent hours and hours and hours intensely working,
but I'd say about 95 % of it, I think. Are you
kidding me? I mean, someone actually gets to
do this because when I open the text and when
I study, it breaks apart for me. I sense what
God wants to say. This is what you need to, I
mean, it's hard in terms of intense and time
and energy, but it's not hard as in, oh brother,
I got one more sermon to write or oh boy, I got
to get together in a group and we got to dream
what we're going to do with this church and we
got all these problems and boy, what a bummer.
I love it. I just love it. I wake up in the middle
of the night with ideas. I have to kind of hold
myself down, you know, like quit trying to do
too much. Encourage them after the honest, wise
feedback. Help them be willing to move out of
their comfort zone to fulfill their divine purpose.
You need to understand that the people that you
love the most, the people that you want to help,
the most common command in all of Scripture is
a very short sentence. be afraid. That's the
most repeated command in all of the Bible. Joshua,
don't be afraid. Moses, don't be afraid. Disciples,
don't be afraid. Why? As one ancient Greek philosopher
said, safety is the greatest hindrance to all
human endeavor. All of us tend to want to be
safe and secure. I had to literally say to one
of my sons, son, you're in this community college.
And I mean, you can't go back there next year.
We'll look at different schools, but you have
this dream. But he just didn't want to get away
from home. This is the same son. I put roller
skates on him. And I said, you can't come back
inside till noon. I don't want to learn. It's
hard. I know it's hard. And I pushed him and
did all this stuff when he got his first bike.
It was like, I don't want to learn to ride. I
mean, he just could never get him out of his
comfort zone. But man, every step of the way
has been pushing him where he didn't think he
could go. Lovingly, gently. But you have to help
people understand. A lot of people, that's why
you're where you're at. It's called coaching.
Most of us can never fulfill what God made us
to fulfill unless there's someone who does two
things. There's an arm around us that says, I
love you, I love you, I love you, I love you,
I love you, and there's a foot that I love you
so much that I'm not gonna let you stay in this
little spiritual, emotional, geographical cul
-de -sac of safety, okay? And so the life message
is, you were created. to work. With that change
of person, I was made for this. The lie is that
you are what you do. You've been fatted on. You
are a housewife. You are a doctor. You are a
scientist. You are a builder. You are a bricklayer.
You are a plumber. That's a lie from the pit
of hell. The truth is, do what you are. You are
not what you do. Do what you are. You are created
in the image of God with a spiritual gift, with
a personality, with a passion, with aptitude,
with skills, with experience to do this designed
Ephesians 2 .10 good work, discover it, and then
help others discover theirs. And when you do,
work becomes a gift from God instead of drudgery
to get out of so you can go play on the weekends.
Leaving a legacy that lasts forever. How to give
your kids and grandkids what money can't buy.
Please stay with us. We're going to hear an important
closing comment from Chip in just a moment. First,
I'm excited to share that Living on the Edge
has activated one of the largest match opportunities
in our 30 -year history. So now's the time to
leverage your December year -end giving. Whatever
amount God places on your heart to give will
be doubled in size, yielding twice the impact.
And the deadline for receiving your gift is December
31st. And we'll use these gifts to come alongside
parents, grandparents, and their kids with tools,
resources, and encouragement so that people of
all ages discover how to apply the Bible to every
aspect of their lives. At Living on the Edge,
we know that many families are struggling to
answer questions about the Bible and the Christian
faith. For that reason, we're equipped to respond
with credible answers using methods that are
preferred by a new generation of listeners. Chip?
You know, we've all heard about kids who take
a gap year from church after high school. But
for many millennials in Gen Z, that gap year
has turned into a decade. They're not angry at
God. They're just not convinced Christianity
has anything relevant to say to their lives.
Living on the edge is reaching this generation
where they are, on their phones, in their earbuds,
during their commute or workout, with teaching
that's both deeply biblical. and intensely practical.
When you give to this match, you're creating
on -ramps for young adults to come back to the
faith or to discover it for the first time in
a way that actually makes sense. Right now, through
this match, your gift is literally multiplied
times two. That means double the reach, double
the impact, and double the lives changed. But
this... window won't stay open forever. The deadline
is December 31st. Will you respond today? You
can respond to Chip right now by going to livingontheedge
.org or you can call right now, 888 -333 -6003.
Together, let's make an impact by giving generously
to the match that's active today and through
December 31st. To send your donation in the mail,
write to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007,
Atlanta, Georgia, 30024. Chip will conclude our
teaching series this coming Tuesday. It's called
Leaving a Legacy That Lasts Forever. Did you
know that we have a study guide for moms and
dads? It's one of the most highly requested resources
in our collection called Effective Parenting
in a Defective World. To learn more or to contribute
to the match, call 888 -333 -6003 or visit livingontheedge
.org. I'm Dave Drewy, inviting you to listen
Monday when Chip Ingram describes how to help
your children and grandchildren manage their
wealth wisely, right here on Living on the Edge.